


Big Brother on Watership Down

by Chipster_roo



Category: Watership Down - Richard Adams
Genre: Big Brother, Challenges, Escape, F/M, not really Big Brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-11-22 11:47:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11379561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chipster_roo/pseuds/Chipster_roo
Summary: Prince Rainbow keeps several rabbits prisoner in a strange warren where they have to complete weird challenges to avoid getting evicted.  However, all are determined to escape...Bookverse.  Updated on Sundays.





	1. Entrance Examination

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first Watership Down fanfiction I wrote, between 24 December 2014 and late February 2015, before I had seen the WD film or TV series. I have made some minor changes since then, but this fanfic remains mostly the same it was when it was first written.
> 
> This takes place in the summer following the events of the book. It is inspired by an old Geocities site run by "Christopher Auk", that was brought to my attention by David "Loganberry" Buttery. This fanfic may be called "Big Brother on Watership Down" like the original Geocities site, but I never watched Big Brother, so it will probably be quite different from the BB TV series (and the Geocities site). I hope you will like it, and please review!
> 
> COPYRIGHT: All named characters belong to Richard Adams. Do anything you want with this fic except claim it as your own.

 

> When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait."  
> \--Paulo Coelho, _The Devil and Miss Prym_

* * *

 

The warren was cold and dark, and there was nobody around. It was freshly-dug, and it carried no scents.

That morning, seven rabbits arrived slowly near the warren. They had been led there by a large bird, and they had spent the entire night travelling.

-"Now, Kehaar, why did you bring us here?" asked Hazel.

Kehaar turned his head and replied:

-"Dis ranbow guy, 'e say: "Pring Meester Hazel, meester...""

-"You mean Prince Rainbow asked us to come here?" said Bigwig with a gasp.

-"Bigwig, calm down," insisted Hazel, "I know you're tired, but there must be some reason for us being here."

-"I...hope these are not the Marshes of Kelfazin...is it, Hazel?" said a trembling Pipkin.

-"No. That can't be. It is too dry," replied Fiver.

He stared into the distance for a few seconds, then said:

-"This place is not evil. I cannot feel anything wrong with it. But I sense something difficult ahead. A long, difficult challenge."

-"Well, I guess there's nothing else we can do except go inside and hope for the best," added Hyzenthlay. "We might even be able to sleep a little. I've never been so exhausted since we escaped from Efrafa."

* * *

-"Silverweed! What are you doing? Where...Embleer hraka, what is all this about?"

Silverweed turned his head and stared blandly at the large rabbit who was following him, struggling to keep up with the young buck.

-"Not far now, Cowslip. Not far now."

-"This better be good! The farmer left hrair heads of lettuce at the warren this morning!"

* * *

-"Campion, I TRIED to warn you, but you wouldn't listen. I knew that it wasn't a good idea to visit another warren in this weather."

A young doe was running in the rain with a big strong buck. They had been away from their warren for days, and they were in this strange new country where they had never ventured before. They were lost, and they were getting exhausted with the rain soaking their fur.

They stopped near a river. It was just a small stream, but with the recent rain, it took large and scary proportions to the rabbits. Campion announced:

-"Let's rest here, Nelthilta. We might even be able to silflay a little."

While they were nibbling a patch of dandelions, lightening struck a nearby tree, which fell right into the river. The trunk acted as a dam, causing the water level to rise rapidly. The rabbits were swept away by the current before they could realize what was happening.

The next few minutes were full of terror. The water was very cold, and the rabbits were struggling to stay afloat. Eventually, they blacked out.

When they regained consciousness, they realized that the current had carried them to the riverbank just before they would have fallen down a waterfall. It had stopped raining. They got up and walked away. Neither of them spoke; they were both thinking of the terrible ordeal they had just gone through.

A few minutes later, they came upon a small warren. It seemed deserted, but they didn't care, they just wanted a place to rest. They entered the first burrow they could find and fell asleep almost instantly.

A while later, Campion was suddenly woken up by the sound of another rabbit stamping. He turned and saw the shadow of a large rabbit, much larger than him, blocking the entrance. He charged at and attacked the newcomer, until he saw his face. It was General Woundwort.

-"Campion! What are you doing here?"

Campion stared at Woundwort. All he managed to say was:

-"General! You're...you're alive!"

-"Of course I'm alive, you fool! Did you seriously think that I could die? Well, to say the truth, I did die, but after a while, I was tired of being dead, so I challenged the Black Rabbit of Inlé to single combat. I nearly killed him, and he was forced to send me back to the world of the living so I would leave him alone. I found this warren, and I thought it would be a good place to rest. Now get off me, before I make you!" he replied, as he shoved the captain away.

* * *

 -"Well, it's a nice warren," said Clover, as she was walking through the runs with her companions. "I just don't understand why it was deserted."

-"No smell of disease, no elil nearby...it just doesn't make sense!" added Vilthuril.

Suddenly, they heard voices. They startled, as the voices were those of other rabbits. While they couldn't hear the entire conversation, they managed to understand a few isolated words:

"much larger than the great burrow"

"why did you"

-"I seem to recognize these voices from somewhere, but I can't remember _where_..." said Bigwig.

-"SHUT UP!"

The voice rang out from somewhere ahead of them, resonating throughout the entire warren. Several rabbits immediately recognized it.

-"Bigwig, whatever happens, please don't fight them. We already have enough things to worry about without you starting a fight," warned Hazel.

Bigwig paused for a few seconds, then replied:

-"Fine. I won't fight them. For now. But if they try anything..."

One by one, they entered the central chamber where Cowslip and Silverweed were. It was a very large burrow, much larger than the great burrow at the Warren of Shining Wires, except that, strangely, there didn't seem to be any tree roots, or anything else, holding the roof and preventing it from collapsing.

The rabbits were ill at ease. Nobody had forgotten the events at the Warren of Shining Wires the previous year. Cowslip, remembering how he had nearly been killed by Holly, was afraid that Bigwig might pounce on him at any moment. The does, despite having never visited that warren, knew that it was a dangerous place, from what they had heard.

Everyone stayed silent for a few minutes until they heard someone else approaching. Campion, Nelthilta and Woundwort entered the great burrow.

-"Well, looks like we've got company!" said Nelthilta.

Woundwort scanned the faces of all the other rabbits, until he laid his eyes on...

-"THLAYLI! I told you I was going to kill you, and I don't intend to back out on my promise. Everyone stand back!"

He lunged at Bigwig who, although startled, managed to fight back rather well. The General was still weak from his fight with the Black Rabbit, and could not attack as well as he used to.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed in the centre of the burrow. All stared at it in amazement. There was no hole in the roof for it to come through, so its presence was rather mysterious. It was made of a thousand different colours, most of which the rabbits had never seen before. Even the General stopped fighting to see what was happening.

-"Greetings, everyone! I see you have all come as I requested," said a loud, deep voice coming out of the light. Most of the rabbits were too puzzled to react, until Hazel asked:

-"Fiver, what's that thing?"

-"That's Prince Rainbow."

Suddenly, the General charged at the light, screaming:

-"You're not going to take me down! I fought the Black Rabbit himself, and I won't be defeated by a fool like you! Remember those carrots of yours, how El-ahrairah stole them and got away with it?"

-"I'm not perfect! That was my mistake, and I probably won't make it again anytime soon." He threw a flame at Woundwort, temporarily immobilizing him. "And I won't be tricked by you. Do you realize that I had to spend almost a day healing the wounds you inflicted on the Black Rabbit? You're not the first rabbit to challenge him to a fight, but you're the first one to come out on top."

All gasped in shock: Woundwort was much stronger than they all thought, even managing to defeat the Black Rabbit himself!

-"But you STILL haven't explain what we're all doing here. Or where we are, for that matter," asked Hazel.

-"Now, I don't think anything bad will happen, you know?" said Cowslip in a manner that allowed no response. "And besides, if it's Prince Rainbow's will, so let it be. I'm just surprised to see he actually exists. I was sure he was just an old legend..."

-"Cowslip, I wasn't talking to you, and I can ask where any time I want!" shouted Hazel in frustration.

-"I was going to explain, but you all kept interrupting me," explained Prince Rainbow. "As I was about to say, you have been brought here to complete a challenge, to see which one of you is the strongest." ("That's me!" screamed the General). "There are hrair of you, but in the end only one will remain. You may not leave this warren unless I instruct you to do so."

-"So, essentially, we're prisoners?" asked Bigwig in an angry voice.

-"You may say that. Also, you may not communicate messages with other warrens. I will keep an eye on you, and any disobedience will result in severe punishment."

-"But I can't stay here!" said Clover with tears in her eyes. "I had a litter at the last full moon, and my kittens will die without me taking care of them! When I left for this warren, I thought it was just a short trip, not an lengthy challenge."

-"Well I'm sure Thethuthinnang won't mind taking care of just four kittens for a few days. Anyway, you must all be tired, after such a long journey. You may go to sleep. Most of you have private burrows. However since I wasn't expecting the General so soon, he will have to share a burrow with Bigwig for tonight."

-"Never mind, he can have it all to himself! I'll just dig my own, even if bucks aren't supposed to dig," mumbled Bigwig.

-"You may have mine," decided Fiver, who was snuggling with his mate. "If you don't mind, Prince Rainbow, I will share one with Vilthuril."

-"Your request is granted, Hrair-roo. But remember: mating is strictly forbidden."


	2. Fighting and Patrolling

> The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.  
> \--Bob Marley

* * *

 

The next morning, all the rabbits were almost as tired as they were the previous day. The mere thought that they were being held prisoner in a strange warren by Prince Rainbow was enough to keep most of them awake. Also, without anyone to snuggle with, the private burrows were uncomfortably cold. Hazel was determined to sleep with Hyzenthlay the next evening, regardless of Prince Rainbow's opinion on the matter.  
-”EVERYONE WAKE UP! I HAVE A CHALLENGE FOR YOU ALL! WAKE UP!”  
The voice resonated loudly in all burrows, almost as if they were equipped with a powerful sound system. Groaning and mumbling, all the exhausted rabbits made their way to the great burrow.  
-”I think you're all wondering where (SHUT UP COWSLIP) Silverweed is?” said Prince Rainbow.  
Actually, nobody had noticed the young buck's absence, with the possible exception of Cowslip, who was doing his best not to think about it, just like every time a rabbit went missing back at his warren. Seeing everyone's silence, Prince Rainbow answered his own question:  
-”He kept me awake. He spent the whole night reciting poetry! I knew I had made a mistake when I invited him and Cowslip here, by sending him a vision,”  
-”You mean you actually sleep?” asked Pipkin.  
-”Of course I sleep! Even Lord Frith himself sleeps! Anyway, I evicted Silverweed because I couldn't sleep. I arranged for Kehaar to escort him back to the Warren of Shining Wires.” (Cowslip grimaced at this, but knew better than to get angry at Prince Rainbow) “He should be all right. Anyway, today you will face two challenges. Bigwig, Cowslip and Hazel, you will participate in the first one. The others will just stay here and watch. Here are the rules...”

* * *

Meanwhile, Silverweed was running through the grass near the Warren of Shining Wires. During the trip, he had had a long talk with Kehaar, and realized that the way of life he enjoyed at the warren was not as great as it seemed. He had been taught at a young age that the shining wire was the only way of life, but he had been proven wrong. Kehaar had talked about the amazing warren at Watership Down, how everyone there was happy, and lived in complete freedom. Silverweed's warren, however, was the exact opposite, and full of suffering. With his mystic powers, he was the only one who could put an end to it. With a little bit of luck, he might even be able to convince his friends to rescue the Watershippers from Prince Rainbow's terrible warren, and finally redeem himself after all the harm he had done. Without Cowslip around to interfere, it shouldn't be too hard.

Meanwhile, in the great underground burrow, the roof of which was held by tree roots, a large number of rabbits were half-asleep, until one of them suggested:  
-”I was wondering if anyone else would be interested in hearing a poem?”  
The crowd began murmuring intensely. The young buck added:  
-”Is there anything wrong with my request?”  
The question was followed by more murmurs and a few complaints. Suddenly, he said:  
-”Wait a moment. Where is Silverweed?”  
Before he could realize what was happening, he received a powerful cuff on the side of the head, knocking him down. Several other rabbits approached and began attacking him, until they heard Silverweed's soft voice coming from the far end of the hall:  
-”It's all right. I am here.”  
Everyone turned and stared with fear at the little rabbit. Many were afraid that he was a ghost, having died in a shining wire, and that he had come back to haunt them and punish them for their unnatural ways and their bad deeds. However, there were no signs of injuries on his body, so they soon accepted that he was still alive. He started his poem, and the words captured their hearts. However, none of them moved, as if they were being held there by an invisible force.

* * *

-”...and the one who can successfully defeat the other two wins. Are you ready?”  
Prince Rainbow's challenge was worse than expected. The rabbits had to fight each other in single combat until two of them were too weak to continue; the last one was the winner and would receive some flayrah. Bigwig and Hazel didn't mind fighting Cowslip, but fighting each other was another matter.

The first fight was between Bigwig and Cowslip. Cowslip, remembering how he had nearly been killed by Holly the previous summer, was terrified. He was so afraid that he went tharn in the middle of the fight, and was instantly knocked unconscious. Just as Bigwig was about to deliver the final blow, he was struck by a fireball.  
-”I said that you were to fight, not KILL each other!” said Prince Rainbow with a growl.

With Cowslip unable to fight Hazel, the next fight was between Bigwig and Hazel. The captain of owsla looked at his chief with sorrow.  
-”I never thought I would have to fight my own chief. I'm really sorry, Hazel.”  
-”It's all right, Bigwig. Besides,” (Hazel started whispering, to prevent Prince Rainbow from hearing) “I will surrender. You won't have to do anything unpleasant and we will both come out all right.”  
Bigwig hesitated for a few seconds, before replying:  
-”No, I will be the one who will surrender! I won't let you do this.”  
-”Look, I will surrender, not you. Besides, if we keep arguing, Prince Rainbow will suspect something, and we don't want that.”  
But it was already too late. The voice of Prince Rainbow boomed:  
-”CHEATERS!! You are not supposed to bargain in fights, just like you are not supposed to sit on stones while playing bob-stones! It is cheating and against the rules! Bigwig, you're out!”  
-”I'm out? What are you talking about?” said Bigwig, confused.  
-”I mean that you have been evicted from this warren and are free to go back to Watership Down. In fact, your presence here will not be tolerated. You may silflay, but after that you will have to leave.”  
-”Oh, and by the way, Thlayli,” said Woundwort, doing his best to appear unconcerned, “there is something you ought to know.”  
The captain of owsla looked at him angrily, but he nevertheless continued:  
-”Your Chief Rabbit. He fancies Hyzenthlay.”  
The General then received a powerful cuff from the doe, who added:  
-”Well? There's a reason me and Hazel are mates, you know? We love each other!”  
The General would have wanted to kill Hyzenthlay on the spot, but he knew better. She seemed able to hold her own in a fight, and with all the others on her side, he wouldn't have a chance. Even Campion had deserted him. He would have to take his time to plot revenge: he still wanted to bring the does back to Efrafa and take back control of the warren, probably killing Campion in the process. But for the moment, he did not react and simply went back to his burrow.

* * *

Campion, Clover and Nelthilta were wandering through the woods, scanning the area around them for potential dangers. The patrol had been assembled by Prince Rainbow, as the second challenge the rabbits would have to face, a few hours after Bigwig was evicted. The goal was to notice as many things as possible and report them to Prince Rainbow, with the winner receiving some flayrah, and the loser being evicted from the warren. Campion, having a lot of experience from his numerous wide patrols, was doing very well. Nelthilta didn't have as much experience, as does were not allowed in the owsla under the reign of General Woundwort.

Clover, meanwhile, stayed apart. Having spent most of her life in a hutch, she hardly had any experience in patrolling. There were many smells, but she was unfamiliar with most of them, and she was awfully worried about her kittens. She knew that her mate Holly, and another doe Thethuthinnang, were at the warren and could take care of them, but the fact remained that at such a young age, kittens need their mother. She waited until the patrol was in an area with a lot of cover, then she made a dash. It took a few seconds before Campion heard rustling in the bushes and saw the doe running away. Just as he was about to run after her to catch her and bring her back, Prince Rainbow intervened.  
-”Never mind, let her go. She probably would have failed this challenge and gotten evicted anyway.”  
-”She's going to get killed!”  
-”She won't. After what General Woundwort did to him, the Black Rabbit won't be able to claim anyone's soul for a while.”

Clover kept running, without stopping, or even bothering to check for elil. But she was quickly losing her strength. Back at the farm, she never had the opportunity to run, and this was the first time she had left the warren on Watership Down since she had first arrived there the previous summer. She had no experience in travelling long distances, and she knew she couldn't keep going much longer.

Suddenly, she crashed into another rabbit. She had not seen him or smelled him until it was too late. She quickly got up and examined the body. The rabbit, who had been knocked unconscious by the impact, was a buck, rather big, and with a few recent scars, as if he had been fighting some type of elil. She then noticed an unusual overgrowth of fur on his head; it was Bigwig. She could not leave him there; she would have to carry him.

After spending a while trying to get him on her back, she started walking again. She did her best to move forward, but he was twice as big as she was, and he greatly slowed her down. Suddenly, she saw some rustling in the nearby plants. She was sure it was a homba or some other type of elil, who had been following them for some time, and was getting ready to pounce. She could not smell anything unusual, but her sense of smell had been weakened by the strong scents of the farmyard, most of which she had never managed to identify.

It was not elil. It was another rabbit, but she didn't see him. By the time he revealed himself, she had already gone tharn and blacked out.

* * *

Meanwhile at the warren, the patrol, which was now down to two rabbits, came back with the sad news. Everyone was filled with sadness and anger, and several rabbits wanted to go look for Clover, but Prince Rainbow forced them all back underground. Since Campion and Nelthilta did not finish their patrol, the challenge was left without a winner and no flayrah was distributed that day.


	3. Twig Breaking

> “Women rescue men just as much as, if not more than, men rescue women.”
> 
> \--Criss Jami, _Killosophy_

 

The next morning at silflay, Pipkin was wandering around the warren looking for dandelions, when he spotted a large rock hidden in the grass. He wondered where it came from, since he could not recall seeing it the previous evening at silflay. He began smelling it, until Prince Rainbow halted his inspection.

-”Do not touch this thing! Nobody is allowed to touch any objects that appear silf unless I instruct you to do so.”

All the rabbits who were outside, not allowed to touch the rock, instead examined it from a distance. They noticed that several other objects had appeared during the night, including other rocks, a hollow log, and a large number of twigs.

While Hazel was nibbling a cowslip with Fiver, he asked:

-”Fiver, do you have any idea what all these things are doing here?”

Fiver sat there for a few minutes, sniffing the air and staring into the distance. Then, he started to talk:

-”It is the next challenge. You have no reason to be afraid, it is one of the easy ones.”

-”The easy ones? Aren't these rocks dangerous? Someone may get crushed under them!”

-”I don't think so. Blackberry told me that stones with a flat base, if they are placed directly in the grass, cannot topple and crush anyone. Unless someone pushes them, of course. That's a possibility that has to be considered.”

He paused for a few minutes, then continued:

-”The one who is expected to win shall lose. It is not wise to get a message. Not good. No. And the one with the optimistic heart shall get the flayrah.”

It did not take long for Prince Rainbow to prove that Fiver's first prediction was right. The next challenge involved running through the log, jumping over the rocks and breaking as many twigs as possible without using one's teeth.

-”And I must insist that you do not push each other,” explained Prince Rainbow, “or do anything else that would prevent someone else from completing the challenge, or that would slow them down. You may proceed!”

Hyzenthlay was the fastest of the three rabbits who participated, and quickly went through the log towards the rocks. Campion followed. While he was a great fighter, running was not his strength, and it took him a little longer than Hyzenthlay to complete the first part of the challenge. Pipkin, full of energy, ran through all the logs as fast as possible, even managing to squeeze past Campion due to his small size.

Hyzenthlay slowly climbed to the top of the stones, before jumping off. Once she was done, she began breaking the twigs extremely fast, using her claws. Having a lot of experience with digging, her claws were very sharp and very effective. Campion jumped over the rocks without touching them, and started breaking the twigs. He was rather annoyed at not being allowed to chew through them, but he still managed with his claws, although rather slowly.

Meanwhile, Pipkin was struggling to make it past the rocks. While the smaller ones were no problem, the largest one was a massive challenge. Hazel wanted to go and help him, but Prince Rainbow threw a fireball right in his path to prevent him from doing so.

A few minutes later, Pipkin finally made it to the top of the stone, and jumped off. However, while propelling himself off it, he ended up pushing the rock, which started rolling straight towards where Campion was standing.

Woundwort was watching the challenge from a distance. He was extremely angry at Campion, after he had taken advantage of the General's absence to take control of Efrafa, and wanted revenge. Yet, as much as he hated to admit it, he still felt sorry for the rabbit one who once was his most trusted owsla captain. He was still debating whether or not he should push Campion out of the path of the rock, at the risk of his own life, when he suddenly felt as if his hind legs were on fire. He turned around and saw Prince Rainbow, who screamed:

-”WELL? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? RESCUE HIM!”

The General stood petrified for a few seconds, until he was struck by a second fireball, at which point he dashed towards the path of the rock, but encountered only thin air, followed by the worst pain since his fight against the dog Hazel had unleashed on his owsla. There was no longer any rabbit in his path.

It turned out that, as soon as she had noticed the rock, Hyzenthlay thew herself into Campion's body, pushing them both out of the way and leaving Woundwort to experience the full blow. However, the two rabbits had crashed in the middle of a pile of sharp twigs. Campion felt a strong pain in his back, while Hyzenthlay was mostly unharmed, since his body had acted as a cushion of sorts.

-”Why did you save me?” said the captain of owsla.

-”I don't want anyone to die if I can prevent it from happening.”

Pipkin watched the entire event with shock. While he hated the General, he felt terrible for being responsible, although indirectly, for his death. Then, he saw the rock move. Out from underneath it came a heavily scarred Woundwort, who stared directly at Prince Rainbow.

-”Well, _Prince_ ,” he said mockingly, “why in Frith's name did you send me there? You shall pay for this, you know?”

Prince Rainbow, trying his best to contain his anger, only managed to reply:

-”All I know is that the Black Rabbit is still too tired to ferry any souls to the land beyond life today. Because of the wounds YOU inflicted on him. Much in the same way Clover was spared yesterday, Campion couldn't die today, so the Black Rabbit made me send you to save Campion. What nobody expected was Hyzenthlay saving him instead.”

He then turned to the patch where the twigs once lied. Now, there was nothing but a pile of fragments, most of the twigs having been destroyed when Hyzenthlay and Campion had landed on top of them. The others had been crushed by the rock.

-”This challenge was a disaster! I would have evicted you, Pipkin, for causing all this trouble,” (the small rabbit bent down in guilt) “but I did not specify any rule stating that the rocks couldn't be moved, so I am unfortunately unable to evict you. I will have to analyze each of these fragments to determine who broke them. Get back to the warren and don't come out until I am finished! I have a lot of work to do!”

-”And, HOW, may I ask, will you determine who broke those twigs?”

All turned to see from where this new, yet strangely familiar, voice came from. Everyone gasped when they saw the rabbit who was standing at the edge of the warren.

* * *

Avens was on sentry duty in Vleflain. The warren was part-Efrafan, part-Watership, and was the first of a long list of a measures to bring the two warrens closer after the end of the war. The former Efrafan captain had had the honour of bringing the first band of Efrafans to the warren with him a few months before. He suddenly saw a large gull appear overhead. Just before he could stamp out the alarm, he realized that it was Kehaar, who was perfectly harmless.

The bird landed next to him and began talking to him with a sense of urgency:

-”Meester Avens, ees trouble. Meester Pigvig, 'e hurt. Ees vith Meess Clover.”

The captain quickly realized that something had to be done immediately, and asked:

-”Where are they? Lead me to them!”

-”In voods. Dat way.”

Avens quickly assembled a patrol with the first few rabbits he could find, and started out in the direction indicated by Kehaar. After a few minutes, they finally made it to the place where the pair was last seen, only to find both rabbits lying unconscious in the grass. The patrol carried them back to the warren.

The next day, Bigwig and Clover, escorted by Kehaar, made their way back to Watership Down. The doe immediately went down the nearest hole to check on her kittens. As Prince Rainbow had said, Thethuthinnang had taken care of them, and they had not faced any worse problems than loneliness. The owsla captain approached a random rabbit at silflay (it happened to be captain Holly), and told him:

-”Holly, I want you to call a meeting in the Honeycomb right now. Everyone must attend. Yes, even those new kittens. Everyone must be there.”

As soon as everyone was assembled inside the hall, Bigwig and Clover began telling them the story of everything that had happened at Prince Rainbow's terrible warren, and how all the others were still trapped there. Most of the rabbits had trouble believing what they had just learned, especially Dandelion: despite being the warren's storyteller, he had never heard of Prince Rainbow organizing such challenges.

-”Well, one thing I DO know is that I will not let them stay there!” proclaimed Bluebell, as he burst into a run.

-”WHAT? Are you crazy? You'll never make it!” replied Holly in shock. “And even if you do, I don't think Prince Rainbow will be very tolerant towards strangers. You weren't invited!”

-”I'm going, and you can't stop me!”

Bigwig dashed towards Bluebell, but was held back by Blackberry's firm paw.

-”Don't waste your time. Once he's got an idea in his head, it's hard to get it out. He's probably far away by now. I don't think he will make it very far, and he will probably come back in the morning looking like a fool. If not, we'll send Kehaar to look for him. But for now, let's see if I can think of a clever trick to get everyone out of that warren...”

* * *

-”Bluebell! What are YOU doing here?” asked Hazel in shock.

-”As soon as I learned you were in trouble, I ran here as fast as I could. It was a long trip, and I got lost several times. But I'm here now! Let's get out of here!”

-”NOT SO FAST!” barked Prince Rainbow, as he hurled a fireball into Bluebell, knocking him down. “Nobody is going anywhere until I have finished examining those twigs. Everyone, carry this troublemaker underground and leave me alone. I've put some flayrah and some stones in the great burrow to keep you busy.”

The rabbits spent the rest of the day calmly inside the warren. They ate a little bit of flayrah, but they were rather worried because there was only a small amount of it, so they saved most of it for later. They played several games of bob-stones until they all drifted to sleep, only to be suddenly woken up in the middle of the night by a bright light and a loud voice.

-”Everyone into the great burrow! I will announce the results of the challenge!”

-”Ohhh,” groaned Bluebell, “just when I was starting to get some sleep. What is this challenge, anyway?”

-”SHUT UP! Do not insult me, it is strictly forbidden and will be punished severely! Consider yourself lucky I actually let you sleep underground! Anyway, here are the results...”

-”And you still haven't answered my question: how do you know who broke those twigs?”

-”I examined the strands of fur left onto the twigs. At the tip of each strand of fur, there are small pieces of skin, and inside each is something that makes it possible to identify any living creature. Humans call it “acidum desoxyribonucleicum”.”

-”If you weren't Prince Rainbow, you wouldn't be able to pronounce that,” said Nelthilta with a smirk.

-”NEVER MIND! Anyway, as I was saying, the best twig-breaker is Hyzenthlay. It seems she broke a lot of them with her claws at the start, and a few more when landing further away with Campion, who finished in third place, since most of the twigs he crushed had already been broken before. In second place, just three twigs ahead of Campion, is Pipkin. While he did not break any twigs by himself, he caused the rock to roll on many of them and destroy them. I really should have made a rule against that, but I had no idea that would happen, and it is too late to go back. So, Captain Campion, you are evicted. You may stay until morning, but after that, you will leave. You may all go back to sleep now. And by the way, Hyzenthlay will find some extra flayrah in her burrow. Good night!”

Most of the rabbits had already fallen asleep in the central chamber before Prince Rainbow even finished explaining the results. It had been an exhausting day, and several were still shaken up after the incident with the rock.


	4. Anger and Annoyance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read Tales from Watership Down, Rithla is a young buck who lives in Efrafa and acts as a messenger between the three warrens, and Nyreem is a young doe who lives at Watership Down.

>  ““I don't want tea," said Clary, with muffled force. "I want to find my mother. And then I want to find out who took her in the first place, and I want to kill them."
> 
> "Unfortunately," said Hodge, "we're all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it's either tea or nothing.””
> 
> \--Cassandra Clare, _City of Bones_

 

The next day, most of the rabbits were still sleeping ni-Frith, when a few started to wake up. This was the first time they had managed to get enough sleep since they first arrived at the warren. Previously, they had always been woken up early to participate in a challenge.

Eventually, most of the rabbits had woken up, and were either relaxing in the great burrow or out to silflay. After a while, Bluebell joked:

-”Well, it looks like that prince won't force us to do anything today!”

-”But you are WRONG!” shouted Prince Rainbow. “And stop making fun of me, or I'll send you back to Cowslip's warren!” (“Hey, what's wrong with my warren?” said Cowslip). “There is no challenge today, but there are still rules! You will be kept confined underground all day. You may silflay and pass hraka now, but after you are done I will fill up all the holes and only reopen them tonight. Hurry up, I don't have all day! The Black Rabbit has been complaining again, and I have to go tend to his wounds”

The rabbits spent the next fifteen minutes or so at silflay, with some of them carrying grass underground to eat later. Once everyone was back underground in the main burrow, Prince Rainbow closed all exits.

-”General, you were wrong to say what you told Bigwig the other day, about Hyzenthlay,” said Hazel.

Under normal circumstances, Woundwort would have killed Hazel, but he was afraid. Nearly all the other rabbits had great respect for the Chief (except Cowslip, but he was useless in a fight), and if he dared to harm him, everyone else would quickly fight back and incapacitate him. The fight would be hrair against one, and with the does now much healthier than when in Efrafa, the General wouldn't have a chance. Therefore, he decided to mentally torment Hazel instead:

-”I do what I like, you filthy buck!”

-”I hate you!”

-”I'm the king of the warren, so SHUT UP!”

Hazel then stormed off to his burrow.

-”How many times do I have to remind you that _I_ am king of the warren!” retorted Prince Rainbow.

-”That doesn't make any sense: you're _Prince_  Rainbow, not _King_  Rainbow!”

Meanwhile, two does were in Hazel's burrow, trying to comfort him.

-”Oh, Woundwort is so mean!” he cried.

-”You are _absolutely right_! He is such a mean jerk,” replied Nelthilta, doing her best to make sure Woundwort heard every word.

Hyzenthlay then gestured at Nelthilta to leave the burrow. Once she was alone with her mate, she nuzzled him softly, and lied down next to him. Hazel flopped on his side and pressed her closely against him.

-”I love you Hyzenthlay. You're so kind, so brave, so beautiful. It's hard to believe an amazing rabbit like you could possibly exist.”

-”I love you too Hazel. I'm so grateful you did for me. I never want to leave you.”

-”We will always be together.”

-”Always.” Hazel and Hyzenthlay lovingly nuzzled each other.

 Meanwhile in the great burrow...

-”Where _is_ everybody, Cowslip?” said Bluebell with a smirk.

-”STOP ASKING ME WHERE! STOP ASKING ME WHERE!”

Realizing that everyone was staring at him, Cowslip muttered:

-”It gets on my nerves.”

-”Where where where where where. Hrair times where!”

Out of anger, Cowslip lunged at Bluebell, only to find himself rapidly pinned to the ground and begging for his life, just like the previous summer when Holly had attacked him.

-”No, please don't kill me Bluebell! I'll do anything you say! Please...”

-”Then tell me _where_  we are now.”

-”In...in a warren somewhere...”

-” _Where_  in the warren?”

-”In...in the...the largest burrow...”

-” _Where_  is your warren?”

Bluebell asked hrair other questions before finally letting Cowslip get back on his paws. He then went back to his burrow, asking the General to come with him so they could speak privately.

-”I'd like you to teach me how to fight. I am so sick and tired of being bullied by these rabbits. Seriously, everyone seems to hate me for no reason! I want to do something about it.”

Meanwhile, the other rabbits slowly left the great burrow. Fiver and Vilthuril went to their burrow to entertain Pipkin with a story, leaving only Nelthilta and Bluebell there. Suddenly, dirt started falling from the ceiling. Within a few seconds, a small hole had opened, and a head came out of it; it was Kehaar.

Bluebell wasted no time. He quickly approached the hole and spoke a secret message in hedgerow. Just before he could finish, however, Prince Rainbow boomed:

-”Didn't I tell you that only Lapiné was to be spoken?

-”I don't think you did...”

-”And you Kehaar? How dare you destroy my warren! It took me days to build it to my satisfaction! And you just ruined it! As if I didn't have enough work already!”

-”So sorry, Meester Ranbow.”

Kehaar flew away, and came back moments later with something in his beak. He dropped it on the burrow floor.

-”Hav sum feesh?”

Bluebell took one sniff at the dead fish, and ran out of the burrow, thoroughly disgusted, leaving Prince Rainbow alone with Nelthilta and Kehaar. Prince Rainbow threw a fireball at the fish, disintegrating it.

-”I don't want any _feesh_! Get out of here!”

-”Well, it seems we shall finally have this private talk I've been wanting to have with you ever since I arrived,” said Nelthilta after Kehaar had left.

Prince Rainbow sighed. He knew Nelthilta well, and whenever she started talking, there was no stopping her, and she was not always nice with her words. Nevertheless, he replied:

-”You may speak.”

-”Well, I must say you are just an embleer wandering hlessi down in the world, almost as bad as u hrair, but a snake could strangle you, and frankly, why did you put me in the water? If there's one thing I hate more than the General, it is swimming. How I would love to make you dig the hraka ditch, and did I tell you that...”

* * *

Meanwhile at Efrafa, Campion was in the middle of a heated discussion with the members of the Council. When he and Nelthilta had taken much longer than expected to come back from Vleflain, the Council had sent Rithla to check up on them. The previous evening, Rithla had returned to Efrafa with the news that the two rabbits had never even arrived there. One of the rabbits on the Council, instead of sending out a patrol to look for them, decided that they were dead and proclaimed himself the new Chief Rabbit of Efrafa. He was one of the older members of the council, and used to be one of General Woundwort's most trusted advisers. Campion knew that this was not going to end well unless he did something to stop him.

Suddenly, a loud noise and some vibrations came from the pipe at the entrance of the Council's burrow. A dark shape blocked the entrance, plunging the burrow in near-total darkness. Most of the councillors panicked, and a few started digging an escape tunnel. Only Campion remained calm.

-”Yes, what is it Kehaar?”

-”Meester Campvon, Meester Pluepell, 'e got message for you.”

-”What is this message?”

-”'e say, you invade udder town of rabbit. De von vith Meester Ranbow.”

-”Well, I'll see what I can do about that. Is there anything else?”

-”Nah, nah, noddings.”

-”All right. Thank you Kehaar. But next time, please scream at us to let us know you're here, instead of just dropping on us like you did just now. You scared half the council to death!”

-”Scream at ya? Like dis? YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK! YARK YARK YARK!”

-”...yes, that would be fine, Kehaar. Thank you.”

-”You see what he's doing?” screamed the rebel councillor. “There he is, sitting calmly and talking with elil! You call this a good Chief?”

-”That's not elil!” replied Campion. “That's Kehaar! The white bird who helped us establish Vleflain!”

It was true that Kehaar had been extremely important in establishing the warren. Without him, the process would have been much more complicated. But a few rabbits were still afraid: the legends of the great white bird with supernatural powers still persisted.

-”Anyway, as I was saying,” continued Campion, “we shall have to invade another warren.”

This statement was met by a collective groan.

-”Are you tharn? Don't you remember what happened last time? The General and half the owsla died!”

-”That's the problem. The General is not dead. He fought the Black Rabbit...and actually won the battle.”

The rebel councillor stared at Campion for a few seconds as if he were a human, before exploding.

-”Are you saying he's come back from beyond? Have you been playing with burning white human sticks again?”

-”Yes he has, and no I haven't. The General is at that warren we're going to have to invade, along with Nelthilta and several rabbits from the warren on Watership Down. Prince Rainbow is keeping them there against their will. We have to...”

-”You're getting old, Campion. You're imagining things again...”

* * *

-”...and consider yourself lucky I don't tell you to silflay hraka. And believe me, if I weren't so tired, I would!”

It was now fu Inlé, and Nelthilta retreated to her burrow to sleep. Prince Rainbow, having endured her complaints all afternoon, was extremely angry. To make things worse, she had prevented him from visiting the Black Rabbit of Inlé. Now that she had gone to rest, he had a burning desire to evict her. He called everyone out to the Great Burrow.

-”There has been no challenge today, but someone will still leave. Therefore, there shall be a vote. Each one of you will vote for the rabbit you would like to see get evicted. You may not nominate yourselves, or me, and you will have to explain your votes. I will evict the one with the most valid votes. You are to whisper your votes in my ear.”

-”You're a rainbow. You don't have any ears,” joked Bluebell.

Suddenly, a small black hole opened in the middle of Prince Rainbow.

-”Now I do. Vote!”

One by one, the rabbits approached Prince Rainbow's “ear” and cast their votes. Once they had all finished, he made his announcement:

-”The rabbit with the most votes is Woundwort” (he and Cowslip got ready to fight as soon as they heard this), “with hrair votes. However, the reasons for these votes are terrible. Didn't I tell you that you should not consider past experiences when casting your votes?”

-”As a matter of fact, you didn't,” pointed out Hyzenthlay.

-”I'm starting to think you're making up the rules as you go along,” added Vilthuril.

“...as a result, he is immune from eviction right now,” continued Prince Rainbow, ignoring the does. “Therefore, the one in second place shall leave. It is Nelthilta. She has until morning silflay to vanish.”

This was followed by a lot of whispering:

-”Nelthilta?”

-”I can't believe someone hates her more than Woundwort...”

-”Nelthilta is really annoying, but why evict her?”

-”I didn't vote for Nelthilta, I voted for Cowslip.”

-”Before you leave, Nelthilta, do you mind if we become mates?”

Everyone looked at Bluebell, who had made the joke, except Nelthilta herself, and Fiver.

-”I'm afraid you were all tricked,” explained Fiver. “Pipkin voted for Cowslip, Woundwort for Hyzenthlay, and Cowslip for Hazel. Everyone else, including me, voted for Woundwort.”

-”In that case, why is Nelthilta getting evicted?” asked Hazel.

-”Because Prince Rainbow himself voted for her because he was annoyed at her. His vote counts as two to him.”

-”Thanks for the _offer_ , stranger, but I already have a mate,” said Nelthilta annoyed, before turning to Prince Rainbow. “Farewell, _Prince_!”

She jumped out of Kehaar's hole and made her way back to Efrafa, without even waiting for morning silflay. Prince Rainbow, sensing the growing anger of the other rabbits, quickly demanded that they all go back to their burrows to sleep. 

* * *

Meanwhile at Watership Down, a few rabbits were at silflay. That afternoon, Clover had brought her four new kittens above ground for the first time. They were rather scared of this new, potentially dangerous place, and therefore remained close to the holes. Only one of them ventured further away, and he ended up going tharn in the middle of the grassy field. She lied down next to him in an attempt to calm him down.

One rabbit stood aside from the others, near the edge of the Down, simply staring into the distance. He heard another rabbit approach; it was Thethuthinnang.

-”Bigwig, it seems to me you've just been sitting here all day,” she said. “You didn't train your owsla. You didn't participate in the bob-stones competition this morning. You didn't even show up at silflay.”

-”I wasn't hungry.”

-”You're worried about Hazel, Hyzenthlay and the others, aren't you?”

-”I would be lying if I said I wasn't. Seriously, they are just being held prisoner in that terrible warren, and I'm not doing anything to help them.”

-”You're not helping yourself either. Come share some clover with me. You can't really help our friends with an empty stomach.”

Further away, Clover was not making significant progress. In fact, the situation was getting worse: the kitten had closed his eyes and buried his head underneath her.

-”I give up,” she said in frustration. “What should I do now? I never had any problems like this with Scabious and the others.”

-”You should carry him on your back,” suggested Blackberry, who was nibbling a dandelion further away.

-”Thanks for the suggestion, but my back still hurts from carrying Bigwig two days ago.”

-”Carry him on your head then. He can't be that heavy.”

-”You're right. I could try that.”

It did not take Clover long to convince her kitten to climb on her head. As she made her way towards the warren, however, Blackberry seemed worried.

-”Be careful!” he warned. “Don't let him bite yo...”

-”Ouch!”

-”...your ears...”

-”Don't worry, Blackberry. At that age, a rabbit's teeth are too small to do any real damage.”

After Clover had gone underground, Blackberry started nibbling the grass again, thinking about how he could possibly help Prince Rainbow's prisoners. His mind was usually filled with creative ideas, but now, when he needed them the most, he was unable to come up with anything. His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Nyreem:

-”Blackberry, do you know where's Bluebell? I haven't seen him all day.”

-”What? Oh...I guess he didn't come back like I thought he would. He's probably lost somewhere. I hope Kehaar comes back soon, so he can search for him.”

-”What's wrong? Is he in danger?”

-”It's complicated...”


	5. El-ahrairah and the Cruel Human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The El-ahrairah story in this chapter contains descriptions of animal cruelty that some readers may find upsetting. If you don't think you can handle this, you may wish to skip the part in italics. Also, if you haven't read TFWD, Quiens and Melsa are two does who live at Watership Down.

>  “There is no kind way to rip the skin off animals' backs. Anyone who wears any fur shares the blame for the torture and gruesome deaths of millions of animals each year.”
> 
> \--Natalie Imbruglia

The next morning after silflay, most of the rabbits were relaxing in the great burrow, awaiting the challenge of the day, hoping it wouldn't be as bad as the previous ones. A while later, Prince Rainbow announced what it was, easing their worries:

-”Today's challenge is storytelling. Hazel, Pipkin and Woundwort, each of you will tell a story. The best storyteller receives some flayrah, and the worst gets evicted. General, you begin.”

The General took his place in the centre of the burrow, and started to tell his story:

-”The humans were destroying everything, like they do all the time. Frith was angry at how they were killing many innocent creatures. So he decided to do something about it. He started a fire...”

-”That's too violent, Woundwort,” complained Prince Rainbow. “Tell another story. If you try this again, I'm evicting you.”

General Woundwort remained silent for a few moments, thinking about his choices. He hated being held prisoner in this warren, but if he was evicted, he would be unable to have revenge against Hazel, Hyzenthlay and the others. His desire for revenge was stronger than his hatred of Prince Rainbow.

-”Very well. A stupid human was having trouble with his hrududu. It stubbornly refused to move, until he got his gun and shot it a few times. Then, it did move, but not where he had expected. It flew to Inlé and crashed there. The human remains there to this day. The end.”

-”Very good, General,” said Prince Rainbow. “Pipkin, you're next.”

-”Hazel, I've never told a story in front of such a large crowd before. I'm...I'm afraid,” confided Pipkin.

-”It's all right, Hlao-roo, we've all been there at some point. I tell you, everything will be all right,” answered the Chief Rabbit.

-”Of course everything will be all right!” said Bluebell with a smirk. “Tell him the story of El-ahrairah and the cruel human.”

-”Thank you for the suggestion, Bluebell.”

Pipkin began.

* * *

_“There was a time when El-ahrairah and his people were in very bad shape. It had not rained in hrair cycles of Inlé. The grass was very dry and everyone was close to starvation. El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle spent their days searching for food, but to no avail. The bad weather had spread everywhere and all nearby farms seemed abandoned._

_El-ahrairah considered relocating the warren to another land far away, but quickly rejected the idea: his people were extremely weak, many would not survive the journey, and there was no guarantee that they would find a suitable location. Quite simply, there was nothing he could do but pray to Frith that the rain would come back soon._

_One day, Prince Rainbow approached El-ahrairah, saying:_

_-”Well, El-ahrairah, how have things been going lately?”_

_-”Not very well, my Lord. My people are starving, and there is nothing I can do about it.”_

_-”Why don't you trick the clouds into producing rain?”_

_-”I would do that, my Lord, but you would not appreciate it, and you would punish me.”_

_-”You're right about that. I would punish you. I guess you'll have to wait for the rain to come of its own free will.”_

_This conversation angered El-ahrairah very much, for he knew that Prince Rainbow was, to a degree, responsible for the heat wave. To make things worse, there was nothing he could do about it._

_The next day, El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle went on yet another patrol for food, this time going very close to a human village, far closer than they ever had gone before. The knew the risks, but by this point, they had nothing to lose. Then, suddenly, they found it._

_There was a large garden, full of hrair types of fresh flayrah. There was a small fence surrounding it, but they quickly dug a tunnel underneath it and started to feast on the greens. It was extremely refreshing and they were filled with a wave of pleasure with each bite. After a while, they were satisfied, and decided to carry some flayrah back to the warren for everyone else to eat. They were in the process of carrying it out of the garden when, suddenly, Rabscuttle stamped. El-ahrairah bolted back to the other side of the fence and took cover under a pile of dead leaves. He then realized that he was alone: Rabscuttle was still in danger in the garden! He looked, and saw his owsla captain under the fence, stuck due to the lettuce he was carrying. Worst of all, a human had arrived; he grabbed Rabscuttle and went into a nearby building._

_El-ahrairah sat there and thought. He had been involved in hrair rescues, but none of them had involved going so close to humans. Rabscuttle was not just his owsla captain, he was also his best friend, and he could not leave him there at the mercy of humans. Since he could not not afford to waste any time by going back to the warren to get other rabbits, he would have to rescue him alone._

_El-ahrairah went back under the fence and followed the human's tracks. There were many of them, but he could clearly see which ones were the most recent. He found himself face to face with a large barn. He rapidly dug a tunnel under the wall and went inside. What he saw was dreadful.”_

Pipkin paused. There were several stories, like that of El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé, that scared him a lot, and the one he was telling at the moment would also fit in that category. After a few words of encouragement from Hazel, Fiver and Hyzenthlay, he found the courage to continue.

_“Inside, there were many human objects for which we have no words. But right in the middle, there was a large platform, and on top was an unconscious Rabscuttle. He was trapped inside a terrible thing, with large branches preventing him from moving. Some of the branches went into his ears, on his nose and under his tail. Humans use them to send large amounts of energy into the creature, who is then filled with an extremely painful sensation everywhere in their body, as if they were burning alive, and they are unable to do anything about it. Those who are taken by the Black Rabbit at this point are lucky, but very few of them are. Then, the humans rip off their fur and skin while they are still alive and squealing in pain. It is said that it is the worst possible death for any rabbit, far worse than any other type of elil._

_El-ahrairah knew very well that the human aimed to kill Rabscuttle with this machine very soon. He remembered that the energy the branches send comes from long, shining wires enveloped in a soft, pliable material that is very easy to chew, like small tree roots. He quickly found one of these lying on the ground, and started to chew it, until he finally reached the shining wire. He knew very well the dangers of touching it: many rabbits who had stopped running following contact with similar wires during garden raids. He therefore took a small white stick, you know, those things humans put in their mouths to blow foul-smelling smoke? It was lying on the floor and there was still smoke coming out of it. He was filled with a very unpleasant sensation, and began to choke due to the smoke, but he managed to split the wire in two. As he finished, the strange glowing eyes at the top of the building stopped giving light, and the place was filled with darkness. I don't know much about humans, but I know one thing: they are terrible at seeing in the dark, unlike us rabbits._

_The human started shouting in some incomprehensible human language, searching for another source of light. He bumped into several of the objects across the building, cursing in pain. Meanwhile, El-ahrairah jumped on the platform where Rabscuttle was and tried to remove the branches. He had no problems with those in his ears, but the one on his nose went inside his mouth and was very hard to remove. The one under his tail also penetrated his body, and caused Rabscuttle a great deal of pain._

_By the time El-ahrairah had finished, the human had somehow made the eyes bright again and was staring at the two rabbits. El-ahrairah kept urging Rabscuttle to move, but he was still unconscious and did not hear him. El-ahrairah would have to resort to the most dangerous thing he ever had done before: tricking a human. He called out to Prince Rainbow, who arrived shortly afterwards, bursting through the roof, not unlike Kehaar did yesterday._

_-”I see you have gone on one raid too many, El-ahrairah, and your tricks have finally caught up with you!” said Prince Rainbow mockingly._

_-”My Lord, it is your fault I am doing this,” explained El-ahrairah. “If you hadn't caused this heat wave, I never would have gone here.”_

_-”But that was exactly my goal, El-ahrairah. You see, all this was just an elaborate trick to get rid of you. I manipulated that human's mind so he would plant a garden in the wilderness here. I knew you and Rabscuttle would come, and he would capture you two and turn you into beautiful fur coats.”_

_Their argument was cut short by loud stamping and screaming. The human was running away with his arms in the air, screaming as he went._

_-”Now you see what you've done? He's off to tell the human owsla what just happened, how I exist and you spoke, and they will probably send him to an asylum! Really great!”_

_-”That's exactly what I was hoping would happen, my Lord.””_

-”What is an “asylum”?” asked Hazel.

-”I don't really understand it myself,” replied Pipkin. “When Dandelion told me this story, he said it was a place where all the insane humans live. I assume they are kept in conditions similar to what rabbits in Efrafa faced before Campion-rah took control.” He then resumed his story:

_“Prince Rainbow continued to complain:_

_-”And now, I have to prevent him from being sent there, and fast! Thanks for the trouble!”_

_He shot out of the roof, leaving the two rabbits alone in the building. By this point, Rabscuttle had woken up. The branch the human had placed in his mouth had hurt his tongue, making it hard for him to speak, but apart from that, he was mostly unharmed. El-ahrairah dug a scrape just outside the garden, and the two rabbits stayed there for a few days until Rabscuttle got all his strength back. They then left the terrible garden, taking lots of flayrah with them. Their warren was saved, and shortly afterwards, the rain came back and grass started to grow again._

_As for Prince Rainbow, nobody really knows what happened to him in the human village. Some say the humans thought he was another human disguised as a character from a popular story. Others think he was arrested by the human owsla. Another theory is that all the humans fired their guns at him. But Dandelion told me that he personally believes that Prince Rainbow spent a full set of seasons to organize an escape from the asylum, only to realize that the human he wanted to save had stayed behind.”_

* * *

As Pipkin finished, everyone in the burrow praised him for a job well-done. Cowslip was laughing uncontrollably. Even the General, who wanted to kill Pipkin when he had compared the asylum with Efrafa, and didn't for the sole reason that he was pinned to the ground by Hazel and Hyzenthlay, was extremely satisfied with the last part of the story. Everyone was happy, except Prince Rainbow...

-”How...how DARE you humiliate me like that, you dirty little...GET OUT! OUT! OUT!!!”

He threw increasingly powerful fireballs with each “out”, but due to his anger, he was not aiming very well. Pipkin ran out of the warren as fast as he could, and found Kehaar foraging in the field.

-”Kehaar, Bluebell once said you would fly me to the moon if necessary. Well, I'm going to need that now!”

-”Ees day! Vere is no moon.”

-”Fly me to the clouds then!”

He climbed on the gull's back, who took off and flew over the trees just before Prince Rainbow arrived.

-”YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS! NOBODY HUMILIATES ME LIKE THAT! Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Hazel, it's your turn to tell a story.”

Hazel, who had followed him above ground, looked at him sadly, and told his story:

-”There was a prince, who had a great domain and many powers. He had everything he could hope for. But he was mean. He did everything he could to make the lives of those who displeased him miserable. And most of the time, he succeeded. The end.”

He then went back to his burrow, along with most of the others. Under ordinary circumstances, Prince Rainbow would have evicted Hazel too, but he was still too angry at Pipkin to do anything about it.

* * *

A group of humans were playing poker and drinking tea at Nuthanger Farm, when suddenly one of them pointed out the window.

-”What's zat?”

-”What's what?”

A bright light suddenly appeared in the middle of the sky.

-”Zat!”

-”Ah dunno. Fireworks?”

-”At zis time o' day?”

-”Well, I'll check it out tomorra, 'kay? Now it's yur turn ta bet!” 

* * *

That day at ni-Frith silflay, Clover made another attempt at bringing her kittens above ground. It was the complete opposite of the previous day. Previously, the kittens were cautious and nervous, but this time they simply ran everywhere without a care in the world. At first, Clover tried to keep an eye on them to make sure they stayed safe, but she soon realized that she was unable to watch all of them at the same time, since they were running in opposite directions. She therefore asked others for help her.

A group of rabbits was assembled around the warren to watch the kittens, and capture them if they ventured too far. At first, Thethuthinnang found this idea horrifying, as it reminded her of Efrafa. However, she was soon forced to admit that the kittens were still too young and inexperienced to fend for themselves, and therefore should not stray too far from the warren. She even volunteered to help keep them under control, along with Dandelion, Quiens, Speedwell and Melsa.

-”You know things are out of control when it takes hrair rabbits to watch four kittens,” complained Hawkbit.

-”Perhaps we could use one more,” said Bigwig.

-”Maybe. I'm sure Haystack would be willing to help her old friend.”

-”Perhaps she would. And perhaps _you_  could help her?”

-”Me? Why me? Haystack is a doe. She has more experience with kittens.”

-”Your argument is flawed, Hawkbit. She never had kittens, although Boxwood hopes she will soon. You would be better for the job. GO!”

Hawkbit grumbled, but nevertheless took a spot on the edge of the Down, ready to catch any kitten who came his way. He vowed never to have kittens: he already had enough trouble dealing with other rabbits' kittens without having any of his own.

Blackberry was at silflay, keeping a distracted eye on the kittens. He had had a bad night, filled with nightmares of Prince Rainbow tormenting his prisoners and physically torturing a few. Luckily, it was only a dream (at least, he hoped it was only a dream, since he had no way to know). To make things worse, he had still not been able to come up with any realistic rescue plan.

As he took a bite out of a fresh piece of lettuce he had stolen from Nuthanger Farm that morning, one of kittens crashed into him, knocking him down. She mumbled a quick apology and jumped off, burying her claws in his fur. Luckily, they were too short to do any real damage.

However, he did not get back up. He remained lying on his side with his eyes closed, thinking. The collision had given him an idea, and he slowly let the ideas organize themselves. It was crazy, but it might be crazy enough to work.

-”Blackberry, are you all right?”

Blackberry slowly opened his eyes, and saw another rabbit standing over him, looking at him worriedly; it was Strawberry. He immediately scrambled back to his feet.

-”Strawberry! It's nice to see you. When did you get here? How are you? How are things at Vleflain?”

-”Blackberry.” Strawberry smiled. “I got here just moments ago. I was a bit worried when I saw you lying there...it's great you're alive. As for Vleflain, it hasn't been going very well. Campion was supposed to visit us, but he didn't show up. I decided to visit here to get my mind off things.”

-”I know where Campion is. He is at a strange warren where Prince Rainbow is keeping him prisoner.”

-”What?”

-”He's not there only one there. Hazel, Hyzenthlay, Fiver, Pipkin, Vilthuril, Bluebell, Woundwort, Cowslip and...”

-”Cowslip...” repeated Strawberry, as he looked at the ground. He awkwardly turned his head and stared in the distance for a few moments, thinking about his tragic past at Cowslip's warren. “I...I'm rather tired after this journey, I think I'll go take a nap in the Honeycomb.”

As Strawberry slowly hopped away with his ears drooping to the sides of his head, Blackberry realized he had made a mistake by mentioning Cowslip. He knew Strawberry well, and all mentions of the place where he had been born triggered painful memories of the long-dead love of his life, Nildro-hain. When this happened, the best course of action was to leave him alone until he felt better. On several prior occasions others had tried to help him and failed.

Blackberry was still reflecting on the situation when another rabbit collided with him, knocking him over on his back. It was Clover.

-”I'm sorry Blackberry,” she said. “I was in a mad chase and I didn't realize you were there until it was too late.”

-”Don't worry about it, you didn't hurt me.”

-”Have you thought of any ideas to save the others from that dreadful Prince Rainbow?”

-”Actually, I think I might have something. You said that Prince Rainbow likes to throw fireballs?”

-”He did that several times when I was there. What is your plan?”

-”All of us go to the warren and we try to keep Prince Rainbow distracted. While he throws fireballs at all of us, the prisoners sneak away. And then we run away too.”

Clover stood motionless on Blackberry's abdomen for a few moments, dumbstruck.

-”That's never going to work, we'll all get hurt!”

-”That's what I was afraid of,” replied Blackberry sadly. “Looks like I'll have to start over...”

The two rabbits were interrupted by squealing further away. They both turned their heads to see what was happening: the four kittens had Dandelion pinned to the ground and were tickling him.

-”Not again...” mumbled Clover, as she hopped off Blackberry to rescue Dandelion. Blackberry slowly got back up and shook the dirt out of his fur. With a sigh, he tried to think of other ideas. This rescue plan was going to be much more complicated than helping the does escape from Efrafa.


	6. Escape?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read TFWD, Tindra is another young doe who lives at Watership Down.

> “Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.”
> 
> \--Matthew 12:29 (KJV)

It was fu Inlé. After an exhausting day, Clover had finally brought her kittens underground. As soon as they were asleep, she went back above ground to silflay: having spent most of the day keeping an eye on her kittens, she had not been able to get much to eat. Other rabbits shared her predicament, so she was not alone at silflay. She approached a few rabbits who were having a discussion.

-”Did you come up with anything today, Blackberry?” one of them asked.

-”I thought of something earlier, Bigwig,” answered Blackberry. “We have to convince Prince Rainbow that the Black Rabbit is sick and needs to see him. It shouldn't be too hard, considering what the General did to him. And while Prince Rainbow is gone, everyone else sneaks out.”

-”That's a good idea,” replied Bigwig, “but how are we going to convince him of that? Even El-ahrairah never pulled any tricks like this.”

-”Actually, he did,” corrected Dandelion.

-”I don't think I ever heard that story,” said Clover. “Do you mind telling us more about it?”

-”This is an urgent situation! This is not the time for a story!” complained Bigwig.

-”I know how urgent it is,” said Blackberry, “but there is a lot to learn from El-ahrairah stories. Go ahead Dandelion.”

* * *

-”Vell, eet seems I did fly ye to da moon, ya?”

Pipkin did not reply. He was simply clinging desperately to Kehaar's feathers to avoid falling to his death. He had always wanted to fly when he was younger, and now that he had the opportunity, he realized how terrifying it was, especially since the gull seemed to be rapidly losing strength. Each flap of his wings was slower than the previous one, and Pipkin knew he would soon have to land.

-”Dere! 'ome.”

Pipkin opened his eyes, and much to his relief, saw the shape of Watership Down close by. Kehaar gradually flew closer to the ground, until he suddenly fell from the sky.

* * *

Meanwhile on the ground, Dandelion was telling his story:

-”And then El-ahrairah said...”

-”Look! What's that thing in the sky?” said a young doe.

-”That's not what he said, Tindra, he said...”

-”I know he didn't say that, I meant there's something in the sky for real!”

-”Tindra is right,” said Strawberry, as he stared at the shape in the sky, rapidly becoming larger. “Frith and Inlé, it's Kehaar! Look out, everyone, he's going to crash!”

Everyone bolted away as Kehaar crash-landed where they were moments before. Pipkin was ejected from the gull's back and landed further away in Bigwig's face.

-”Oo! Aa! Sorry for da soodin landin, meester Peepkeen.”

Pipkin remained silent, thinking of Bluebell's words the previous summer: “Kehaar'll fly you to the moon, Hlao-roo, and you can come down on Bigwig's head like a birch branch in the frost.” Was that a prophetic vision like Fiver and Hyzenthlay sometimes have? His thoughts were interrupted as he was tackle-hugged by a small doe.

-”Pipkin! I missed you.”

-”It's great to see you again, Nyreem, but there's something terrible...”

-”What is wrong with you Pipkin?” shouted Bigwig in anger. “Joyriding on that poor gull's back, jumping in my face and ripping off one of my whiskers, I have a good mind...”

Pipkin did not wait for Bigwig to finish his rant:

-”Bigwig, something terrible happened! Prince Rainbow was extremely angry, I was lucky to make it here alive. I ran away like a coward, I left all the others there...”

-”You're not a coward, Pipkin,” said Nyreem. “If what you say is true, you had no choice but to run away for your own safety, and there was nothing you could have done to help the others.”

-”I appreciate that, Nyreem,” replied Pipkin, as he nuzzled his friend.

-”There isn't a moment to lose,” declared Holly, “We have to go to that warren now and rescue everyone.”

-”And get preyed upon by all the owls and the badgers along the way?” complained Hawkbit. “Not a chance, mates. We wait until morning. That should also give Prince Rainbow time to calm down.”

-”Actually, now would be the best time,” objected Clover. “I remember Prince Rainbow saying something about sleeping at night. We would have a higher chance of success if he is asleep.”

-”Let's have a vote,” suggested Thethuthinnang. “All those in favour of waiting until morning raise their paws.” Hawkbit, Speedwell and Scabious voted. “All those in favour of leaving now?” Hrair rabbits raised their paws. “Hrair against three. We leave now.”

Holly looked at the crowd, and selected a small group of rabbits to take part in the mission: Dandelion, Thethuthinnang, Blackberry, Strawberry, Pipkin and Threar. They made their way towards the edge of the Down, when they heard Bigwig's voice:

-”What about me? Why am I not coming along?”

-”Well, Prince Rainbow evicted you, didn't he?” replied Strawberry. “I don't think he would be very happy to see you come back.”

-”But Pipkin was evicted too! Why does HE get to go along?”

-”I already failed Hazel and the others once. I won't fail them again,” said Pipkin.

-”The truth, Bigwig, is that if something goes wrong, you will be our backup,” explained Holly. “If we're not back two days from now, you will have to come and rescue us.”

-”And besides,” added Clover, “you're needed here. To help me keep the kittens safe.”

Bigwig wanted to argue, but he realized that Holly and Clover made some valid points, so he quietly nodded in agreement. A few minutes later, the rabbits left the Down and were on their way to Prince Rainbow's warren, while Clover went back underground. Bigwig remained on the edge of the Down, staring at the patrol and praying to Frith that they all remain safe throughout their journey, especially his mate Thethuthinnang.

-”What's going on?” came the sudden voice of Hawkbit. “Where are they all going?”

-”To rescue Hazel and the others, of course,” replied Bigwig.

-”Why am I not coming along?”

-”Did you forget that you didn't want to participate, because you wanted to wait until morning?”

-”'I can't win, can I?” asked Hawkbit with a sigh.

-”Hawkbit!” shouted Clover out of the warren's main entrance. “Kehaar woke up the kittens when he crashed, and now they refuse to go back to sleep unless someone tells them a story. Since Dandelion is away on patrol, you'll have to do it instead.”

-"So sorry, meess Clover..."

-”Do you think I could try and catch up with the patrol?” whispered Hawkbit. “I would rather do that than deal with those kittens again.”

-”Just do as she says,” said Bigwig, doing his best to contain his frustration. “Go tell them a story...”

* * *

Hazel was asleep, pressed tightly against Hyzenthlay, when suddenly he felt someone caress his fur.

-”Your fur is so soft, Hyzenthlay my dear...” he mumbled in his sleep.

-”This isn't Hyzenthlay, Hazel. It's Fiver.”

Hazel slowly opened his eyes, and looked at his brother.

-”Sorry Fiver. Anyway, what's going on? Why are you waking me up in the middle of the night?”

-”Vilthuril wants to show you something. Now. She says it can't wait until morning.”

Hazel got up, doing his best not to disturb his mate. As he left the burrow, he cast a last glance at her. She was still sound asleep in the middle of the burrow.

Fiver led Hazel to a small burrow; it used to be Clover's before she ran away. Vilthuril was sitting in the middle of the burrow, her fur covered with dirt. At the back of the burrow, there was a large rock, the same one that would have killed Campion a few days before had Hyzenthlay not saved him. Vilthuril pushed it into a corner, revealing a secret tunnel behind it.

-”Clover started digging this escape tunnel during her first night here. After she ran away, I've been continuing it with Nelthilta and Bluebell. It ends in the woods just beyond the spot where Prince Rainbow dumped the twig fragments after he finished inspecting the anti-detoxiculation thing...you know what I mean. That's not as far as I would have hoped, but if we run fast, we may be able to make it far from here before Prince Rainbow notices our absence.”

-”I don't think this is a good idea,” replied Hazel. “What if things go wrong? You saw how he nearly killed Pipkin with his fireballs earlier. He will burn us all alive!”

-”I have a bad feeling about this whole idea,” came a voice from just outside the burrow. Everyone turned to see who had spoken; it was Hyzenthlay.

-”I tried not to disturb you when I left,” said Hazel sadly. “I'm sorry I woke you anyway.”

-”Don't blame yourself, Hazel, it's not your fault. I had a dream that we all ran away through a tunnel, and one of us was lost in the process. So I got up to investigate, and it's a good thing I did. Or something terrible would have happened.”

-”Which one of us was lost?”

-”I don't remember. All I know is it wasn't Cowslip or Woundwort.”

-”What do you think, Fiver?”

Fiver was in a corner of the burrow, hopping in circles, seemingly out of touch with reality. Hazel had to call out to him a few times before he finally responded.

-”Hyzenthlay is right,” he said. “The tunnel looks suspiciously like the pit leading to the Black Rabbit's warren. If we use it, one of us will be lost. But I have a feeling that even if we _don't_ use the tunnel, one of us will _still_ be lost.”

-”Which one of us?”

-”I don't know...”

-”Maybe you're both right,” said Vilthuril sadly, as she pushed the rock back into the tunnel's entrance. “Maybe we shouldn't use this escape tunnel. I'll sleep on it; maybe, in the morning, we will all feel differently.”

Hazel and Hyzenthlay went back to their burrow, where they lied down close to each other and fell asleep almost instantly. Fiver and Vilthuril went to their own burrow, but they had trouble going back to sleep, as Fiver was still worried about the potential risks of the tunnel.

As they left Clover's burrow, none of the four rabbits noticed the overweight rabbit who had been spying on their conversation, and sneaked away to tell General Woundwort what he had heard...

* * *

Early that morning, just as the rabbits were starting to wake up, Prince Rainbow announced a new challenge.

-”Today, you shall have to raid the garden at Nuthanger Farm, your goal being to bring as much flayrah as possible back to the warren. The winner gets to eat the two losers' flayrah in addition to their own, with the one bringing the least amount of flayrah being evicted. This time, Cowslip, Fiver and Vilthuril shall participate. You all leave now! And don't you dare stray away from the path to the farm. If you try to run away, I can promise you a quick but painful death.”

He threw a fireball at Fiver and Vilthuril, and they immediately ran out of the warren to begin their journey to the farm. They were both rather anxious about the whole idea, especially after the vision Fiver had had during the night, but they didn't have much of a choice, after what Prince Rainbow had said.

Meanwhile, Prince Rainbow was scanning the various burrows, looking for the third contestant in the farm raid challenge.

-”Where is Cowslip? Where is he? Where? Where where where! If nothing else makes him show up, I might as well try to annoy him. WWHHEERREE!!”

By ni-Frith, Fiver and Vilthuril had reached the farm's garden, and Vilthuril started nibbling a beautiful head of lettuce in the garden.

-”That's strange. Cowslip isn't here,” she suddenly said. “I don't remember seeing him at warren either today.”

-”This is not the time to worry about Cowslip!” said an alarmed Fiver. “This place stinks of humans! We have to get out of here.”

-”Are you sure we really should leave? You don't know which one of us is going to be lost. Maybe it's Cowslip, and that's why he's not here. Besides, it would be a shame to leave all this flayrah to rot in the ground.”

-”O Vilthuril, my dear, this place is terrible! Hyzenthlay said it wasn't Cowslip, so it may very well be one of us. And if it is someone who is still at the warren, we won't be there to help them.”

She paused for a few seconds, before saying:

-”You make some valid points. Let's get out of here.”

The two rabbits turned towards the lane, when they saw the farmer with his gun, hiding pitifully behind a tree. He had seen Prince Rainbow's fireballs the previous day and was on his way to investigate, when he had caught the rabbits in the act. They began running as fast as they could, but it was already too late: a shot rang out, and both rabbits collapsed.

* * *

Cowslip and Woundwort travelled all night before they finally reached the Warren of Shining Wires. When they arrived early that morning, Cowslip was surprised to find everyone above ground, but strangely, nobody was eating the flayrah.

-”What are you doing here, Cowslip?”

It was Silverweed who had spoken, and he was staring at Cowslip. The large rabbit was perplexed by this question.

-”My friends, we now have the opportunity to destroy those hostile hlessil who gave us so much trouble la-”

-”You really are mad, Cowslip. I'm going to the warren where they are, but not to destroy them. We will free them. Anyone who wishes to help is free to come.”

-”Why are you all leaving? Think of everything you're just throwing away! Those lettuces, those carrots, all that flayrah...”

-”What in the name of the Black Rabbit is happening around here?” asked Woundwort, who had witnessed the entire conversation.

-”The price is too high to pay,” said Silverweed. “We're through with the wire, Cowslip. It's over now. While you were gone, I managed to make everyone realize that all this is wrong.”

-”No...no, that's impossible...this cannot be! Why this sudden change of attitude? Why have you all turned against me...why? Why is life so terrible? This is not happening. No...this is not happening! No! NOOOOOOOOOO!”

At that point he burst into a run, hopping as fast as if he was being chased by elil, squealing all the way.

-”What's the matter with that buck?” said a perplexed General. “Has he gone crazy or something?

-”He was crazy all his life, General Woundwort,” said Silverweed simply.

-”Oh, well that expla...hey, wait a moment! How do you know my name? Oh...I assume you're that mystic rabbit Cowslip told me about? Good, I have a mission for...why are you staring at me like this? You're not seriously thinking...I am the mighty General Woundwort! I defeated even the Black Rabbit himself! You cannot penetrate my mind! You cannot defeat me! It is impo-AAAAA!”

He then collapsed to the ground, twitching and screaming as Silverweed penetrated his mind. His entire life went past his eyes, from the death of both his parents, to his own death fighting the dog the Watership Down rabbits had unleashed on him during the battle. Then he saw his life after his return from beyond, his time at Prince Rainbow's warren, and finally he saw himself inside a human building he had never seen before. With that, he lost consciousness; his body lay motionless in front of Silverweed.

At that moment, the farmer got out of his house to check the snares for victims. Silverweed shot him a quick look, at which he screamed and ran back inside his house, where he collapsed on the floor. Meanwhile, all the rabbits (except Woundwort, who was still unconscious) left the warren, hopping towards Prince Rainbow's warren.

* * *

The human was laughing, very loudly. In one hand, he held the body of a rabbit, and in the other, his gun. Next to him was General Woundwort, smiling cruelly.

-”No! Please don't take her! Take me, but leave her, please!” begged Fiver, who was standing in front of the human.

-”Nah, I wont, see? I wont! Ill tek er and you too! I only got som o er fur, but I want er whole! An I want all dem bunnies! Ill tek em all! All of em! Just tray an stop meh!”

-”No! You have to let her go!”

The human continued laughing and just as he was about to shoot the rabbit in his hand, a rainbow fell on his head. He screamed, and started pulling at his neck, which was now caught in a shining wire. The wire kept getting tighter, until it cut his head off. It fell on the General, crushing him with a gruesome noise.

Fiver woke up. The human and the General were gone. It was all just a dream, but a really terrifying one. He turned around and saw his beloved Vilthuril, lying on her side. Further away in the grass, he could see a little black stone, just like the ones Kehaar had removed from Hazel's leg the previous summer. Only then did he remember what had happened, how they had gone to raid the farm and the farmer had shot at them. He must have gone tharn and blacked out as the farmer fired. He immediately ran over to Vilthuril.

-”Vilthuril! Vilthuril how badly are you hurt?”

The doe opened her eyes and looked at her mate.

-”I'm all right...”

-”The human shot you! Look at the black stone over there.”

She got up and shook herself.

-”I think it just scratched me. I'm not really hurt.”

-”Thank Frith you're all right. I don't know what I would have done if you had stopped running.”

-”I'm sorry I didn't listen to your warnings earlier. We might have avoided this whole situation if I had.”

-”There is no point in regretting the past. Let's just take some lettuce and go back to the warren, before the human returns.”

The two rabbits ran back to the garden. Each took a small head of lettuce, and bolted away. Once they were a safe distance from the farm, they decided to take a break to nibble their flayrah. The leaves were soft and tender; it was the best thing that had happened to them since they had first arrived at Prince Rainbow's warren.

-”Fiver dear, while I was unconscious back then,” said Vilthuril, “I felt something. I don't know how to describe it, it was an idea, a really crazy one, but it is absolutely true. I know it”

-”I know what you mean, Vilthuril. I've had a few ideas like this over the seasons. What did you feel?”

-”I think I know why Prince Rainbow brought us to that warren.”

-”I have been wondering that ever since Kehaar brought us there. Why?”

-”You see, it's...”


	7. Exit Running

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter. I had some trouble writing it, I hope it makes sense. The character of Prake comes from TFWD. The brief mention of the Ilips is also a reference to TFWD.

> "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off."
> 
> \--Gloria Steinem

The General was slowly waking up. He groaned in pain; his limbs felt week. The ground under him felt unusually hard, as if he was lying on a rock. He opened his eyes and saw that it was not an ordinary rock, but a weird arrangement of square stones placed one next to each other like a grid. He wanted to scratch his ear, but strangely, his hind legs couldn't reach it. He took a look at one of his front paws, and saw with horror that it did not have any fur on it (it did, however, have unusually long toes with dirty nails). Barely muffling a scream, he stood up on his hind legs, and realized to his horror that he was inside a human burrow. There were many things he had never seen before in his life, and there was a gun right next to where he was lying. What he noticed next was the worst of all: his entire body was changed. It was covered with large, dirty, colourful pieces of fur that didn't even feel like fur, and he was much larger than before. He had turned into a human.

In a state of terror, he grabbed the gun and ran out of the building screaming. He stepped inside a snare and fell to the ground. He shook it off and got back up. He was determined to capture Silverweed and force him to give him his rabbit body back. It was only then that he saw it, lying in the grass further away. And a voice came from it:

-”No! Please don't kill me! Please! If you let me have my body back, I swear I'll never trap any more rabbits! I swear to God I won't!”

-”Who are you?” shouted the General's human body. “What are you doing in _my body_? And who in Frith's name is God?”

-”You mean...we had our bodies switched? YOU are the rabbit whose body I am in now?”

-”I guess you're right, human! It's the fault of that embleer rabbit Silverweed! Do you know where I can find him? Speak up! Do you want a little black stone inside you?”

-”I...I heard him leave...with all the others...he was saying something about Prince Rainbow's warren...whatever that means...”

-”All right! I'll get him back, and I swear, by Frith and the Black Rabbit of Inlé, that I will have revenge against him, once I get my body back!”

-”You mean...you're not going to kill me?”

The General paused for a moment. He always wanted to kill as many elil as possible, and now he had the opportunity to kill the most dangerous one of all: a human. But he brushed away the idea.

-”No, I won't. Don't misunderstand me, I would love to, but if I want to get my body back, I don't want to get it back with a black stone inside it! So STAY HERE, DON'T MOVE, KEEP MY BODY ALIVE, AND I'LL BE BACK BEFORE YOU CAN COUNT TO HRAIR!”

He then dropped his gun and started running towards the warren of Prince Rainbow. It was much harder than expected, as the human body he was trapped in was not very good at smelling, preventing him from identifying any familiar scents. Also, he saw the world from a much higher perspective than ever before, rendering all visual clues he knew useless.

The farmer in Woundwort's body, meanwhile, was completely tharn. Slowly walking across the grass, not thinking about where he was going, he got trapped in one of the snares he himself had placed there. Since there were no other rabbits nearby to dig out the peg, he slowly suffocated to death.

* * *

Meanwhile at Prince Rainbow's warren, the rabbits were worried about the sudden absence of Cowslip and Woundwort. They also had another, much bigger problem to worry about: Fiver and Vilthuril had been gone for a long time. What if something bad had happened to them? Just as Hazel was about to leave to search for them, a human arrived. His worst fears were dismissed when he realized that the human wasn't carrying the bodies of Fiver and Vilthuril, but he was still a threat to the warren, especially since he had a gun. Hazel stamped and went back underground.

-”I'm afraid that this will be your final challenge,” explained Prince Rainbow. “The Black Rabbit is unable to continue his work and Frith ordered him to go on vacation. And he chose me to replace Inlé-rah in his absence. It's quite a nuisance, but I am forced to obey.”

-”Oh, yes, and I suppose the Black Rabbit also sent this human here to allow you to practice with a few of us?” joked Bluebell.

-”No, the human came of his own free will. Apparently those fireballs I threw yesterday attracted his attention.”

-“You mean humans actually _think_?” asked Hyzenthlay.

-”They have the ability to think, but unfortunately they don't use it often enough. Anyway, your last challenge is to get rid of him. It can't be done by fighting of fair words. You will have to trick him. The one who succeeds in getting him away wins the entire competition.”

The three remaining rabbits looked at each other.

-”I have no idea how we're going to do this...”

-”Maybe we could use the dog at the farm?”

-”How about digging under his feet so he will collapse?”

-”No, it's tied with a chain, now.”

-”Let's just stay here until he goes away.”

-”Maybe get Bigwig to fight him?”

-”No, humans never hurry. They are so embleer slow!”

They kept arguing until suddenly, they heard squealing coming from above ground. Hazel peaked out of a tunnel and saw Cowslip running blindly across the field. The human aimed at him and a shot rang out. The bullet found its way in Cowslip's side, making him squeal in agony and collapse. This was followed by loud rumbling from the sky. Hazel immediately ran back underground.

-”Nobody go above ground,” he said. “The Black Rabbit is coming.”

-”Which one of us will stop running?” asked Bluebell.

-”Cowslip.”

At that moment, they heard a few voices coming from outside.

-”No! Please, don't take me just yet!” begged Cowslip.

-”I'm afraid it's time,” said the Black Rabbit emotionlessly. “You have led a bad life, but you still have a chance. Come with me on my vacation.”

-”But...where are we going?”

-”Do you realize what you just did? You asked me where. You never would have been able to do this before. It's time, now. Let it go and run with me.”

Cowslip's spirit then left his body and followed the Black Rabbit, passing right through the feet of another human, who had arrived just moments before.

-”Oh, my friend, you have no idea what just happened!” said the first human, all shaken up. “A black rabbit dropped from the sky and left with the soul of this rabbit I just shot.”

-”WHERE'S SILVERWEED?” shouted the second human.

-”Silverwhat? What are you talk...”

-”SHUT UP AND GIVE ME THAT GUN! HOW DOES THAT THING WORK?”

As Woundwort ripped the gun out of the farmer's hands and started touching the various parts of it, trying to figure out how to fire it, Fiver and Vilthuril arrived. After staring with horror at the two humans, they bolted underground. Despite everything he had just witnessed, the farmer still saw the rabbits as a threat to his garden. He recognized them as the same two he thought he had killed back at the farm, and he was ready to try again.

-”They're over there!” he shouted. “Shoot 'em!”

After roughly handling the gun for a few moments, Woundwort finally placed his finger on the trigger, firing a bullet straight upwards. However, the recoil knocked him down. While on the ground, he fired several more bullets in random directions, none of them hitting any rabbits, until he ran out of ammunition.

-”There's more!” said the farmer, pointing to a large crowd of rabbits who had just arrived. Silverweed had successfully lead all his friends to the warren.

Ignoring the farmer, Woundwort tried to get up, only to receive a fireball in the face, knocking him back down.

-”General, now don't you think you've already caused enough trouble already?” said Prince Rainbow, throwing several more fireballs, until Woundwort finally fell unconscious. “You already incapacitated the Black Rabbit, and now you're shooting me! How do you expect the world to keep going if there's nobody left to ferry the souls to the land beyond life?”

At the moment, another group of rabbits arrived at the outskirts of the woods. Blackberry and the rest of the the patrol from Watership Down had reached their destination. Bluebell, who had been spying on the scene from the end of Vilthuril's tunnel, went back underground to notify the other four rabbits of the rescuers' arrival. All five immediately ran above ground.

-”Friends, this experiment has served its purpose,” declared Prince Rainbow. “It is now official that it is not a good idea to release tame rabbits into the wilderness.”

-”Except that this was already a known fact,” said Blackberry. “I remember that spring back at Sandleford warren. Many hlessil arrived, saying they had been released by humans. Every day, several did not come back from silflay. Elil must have killed them all...”

-”Well, let's just consider this another proof of this sad truth.”

-”I really don't see what all this has to do with these challenges we went through,” said Hazel.

-”That's because we all know that this was not the real purpose of this experiment,” said Fiver.

-”Are you calling me a liar?” shouted Prince Rainbow. “How dare you, you impudent runt!”

-”Don't you dare talk about Fiver like that!” said Vilthuril. “But since you're not going to tell us why you did this, I will. You thought we were getting too heroic and too famous. We were staining your reputation.”

-”Long ago,” continued Fiver, “there was a human who learned about our adventures. How he found out, I have no idea, but he decided to share our adventures with other humans. He wanted to show humanity what rabbits are really like, to replace all the stereotypes humans had invented.”

-”And so he told our story using something humans call a “book”. The book retelling our adventures became really popular. Other humans even re-enacted the story several times, with some changes each time. Hrair humans, all over the world, even on the other side of the Big Water, learned about our lives. They also learned of a few of the heroic exploits of our legendary hero El-ahrairah in the process, which were also retold in the book.”

-”But what they learned wasn't positive,” said Fiver with a sigh. “They heard all about how you kept El-ahrairah prisoner in the Marshes of Kelfazin, and how you sent Hufsa to spy on him, Prince Rainbow. Many years later, humans learned of your good deeds, such as how you gave El-ahrairah the charmed collar that kept him safe from the Ilips, but by that point it was too late, your reputation was irreversibly damaged.”

-”By Frith, they're right,” whispered Hyzenthlay.

-”You blamed us for all this,” continued Vilthuril, “since humans learned about it because of our adventures, so you decided to have revenge on us. However, you seem to overlook the fact that this is all your fault, since you're the one who acted wickedly in the first place. You absolutely deserve your negative reputation.”

-”And that is the real reason behind these challenges. It is true that tame bunnies can't survive in the wilderness, but that's not the reason behind all this.”

Prince Rainbow remained silent for a few moments, before throwing a fireball in the middle of the crowd of rabbits. Everyone bolted out of the way just in time.

-”You realize,” said Threar, “that by doing that just now you essentially confessed to the whole thing?”

-”Uh, I have to go now,” said Prince Rainbow rather awkwardly. “You are all free to go back to your respective warrens. Former rabbits of Cowslip's, you may take this warren as your own: I have no need for it anymore, now that this experiment is finished. So, uh...farewell!”

As he finished talking, Prince Rainbow dissolved into a single beam of bright light, which then vanished into the sky. The rabbits were free.

-”Wh...what just happened?” asked Hazel in disbelief. “What was all that talk of stories and reputations?”

-”I'll explain everything once we're back at Watership Down,” said Hyzenthlay as she nuzzled him.

At that moment, Campion, Nelthilta and most of the Efrafran owsla arrived. It had taken Campion a long time to convince the council that they had no choice but to invade Prince Rainbow's warren, and a long time to get there, since nobody had a clear idea of the warren's location.

-”What happened?” said Nelthilta. “I just saw a bright...”

-”Prince Rainbow is gone, Nelthilta,” said Hazel. “I don't know exactly what happened, but he's gone now.”

-”You see what I mean?” screamed the rebel councillor. “That fool Campion dragged us all the way here for nothing! Efrafa needs a better chief than him!”

-”I've had just about enough of your constant accusations!” shouted Campion.

-”You're trying to censor me! My complaints are legitimate, but you don't like them, so you abuse your power to keep me silent.”

While the two rabbits were in the middle of a fierce argument, the farmer sat down in the grass and placed his head between his hands.

-”I'm going mad...” he mumbled. “I see a huge rainbow, talking rabbits, one of whom has a soul...it's just like in that TV show young Lucy watches sometimes, I forget the title...something about boats, ships...”

-”Mr Cane, you know too much about this!” shouted Prince Rainbow as he dropped from the sky. “You must forget!” He shot a rainbow at his forehead, knocking him unconscious and erasing his memories of the day.

-”Hey, _Prince_ , while you're here, do you mind throwing one last fireball at this troublemaker over there?” said Nelthilta, gesturing at the rebel councillor. Prince Rainbow promptly obliged, but the fireball knocked both the councillor and Campion unconscious. “No you idiot, not Campion, just the other one! Don't you ever do anything right?”

-”Don't worry, they will both wake up tonight. Farewell forever!” With that, he vanished upwards again, for the last time.

The rabbits remained silent for a few moments, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

They could have -”Well, since there's clearly nothing left for us to do here, we'll be going back to Efrafa, I guess,” said Nelthilta. “We'll have to carry Campion back, since he's in no state to walk right now.”

-”What about this other fellow?” an officer asked.

-”I think I know just what you should do with him. Something that would prevent him from ever doing any more damage...” said Bluebell.

* * *

The ground was uncomfortably cold. The buck slowly woke up and realized that he was underground. However, the burrow looked nothing like those in Efrafa.

He wandered through the runs, searching for an exit, before finally making it above ground. It was fu Inlé, and a few rabbits were out at a late silflay. His fears were realized: he really was not in Efrafa, but in another warren. What was he doing there?

-”Hiya!” came the voice of another rabbit. He turned around and saw a large doe, as large as him, approach. “I'm glad you're finally awake. How are you liking it, here at Thinial?”

-”Thinial? So that's what this place is called? Would you mind telling me how I got here?”

-”A large group of rabbits brought you here earlier this evening, and told us you were going to live here. Their leader was called Nelthilta, I think.”

The former councillor cursed under his breath about how the Efrafans had kicked him out of his warren.

-”Would you mind taking me to your Chief Rabbit? I would like to talk to him.”

-”You're talking to her right now. My name is Prake.”

-”You? Chief Rabbit? But...but you're a doe!”

Prake sighed.

-”When Thinial was established, it was decided that this warren would be ruled by does. My former partner as Chief was also a doe, and our owsla is made up entirely of does. But I'm sure you will like it here. We do our best to make sure all rabbits here, does and bucks alike, lead positive and enjoyable lives.”

The buck's ears drooped to the sides of his head. Not only had the Efrafans kicked him out, but now he was doomed to live in a place where he would never be able to hold a position of power again. What supreme humiliation!

* * *

That evening at Watership Down, nearly all the rabbits in the warren were together in the Honeycomb, as they listened to Fiver and Hyzenthlay tell the story of their imprisonment in Prince Rainbow's warren, with the others adding occasional details.

-”It really sounds like you all went through a lot,” said Thethuthinnang once they had finished. “I'm glad you all made it out of there alive.”

-”It's nice to see the former rabbits of Cowslip's warren managed to start a new life,” said Sandwort. “They were a really nasty lot, from what I heard, hopefully they will change now.”

-”There's just one thing I don't understand,” wondered Blackberry. “What happened to General Woundwort? From what you've said, he was still there yesterday, but he mysteriously vanished overnight. Shouldn't we be worried that he might launch another assault on us?”

-”I hope he won't be causing more problems,” said Clover. “Especially after what Prince Rainbow made all of us go through...”

-”Actually, we do know what happened,” explained Fiver. “I had a talk with Silverweed before leaving the warren, and he said that he put Woundwort's mind in the body of the second human who arrived at the warren. Not the one from Nuthanger Farm, the other one.”

-”But won't that make him even more dangerous?” said Nyreem, horrified. “Not only does he retain his ancient hatred and desire for conquest and destruction, but now he also has all human weapons and machines at his disposal.”

-”I don't think you have anything to worry about, Nyreem,” said Hyzenthlay reassuringly. “None of the other humans will take him seriously when he claims to be a rabbit warrior who wants to destroy a warren of rabbits on Watership Down. They will think he's insane.”

-”They might even send him to an asylum, just like in Pipkin's story,” joked Bluebell.

-”That's probably exactly what's going to happen,” said Vilthuril.

A while later, Hazel went above ground. He approached Hyzenthlay, who was lying on the edge of the Down, feeling the soft breeze through her fur, with Thethuthinnang, Vilthuril and Fiver by her side. He lied down next to them and started to nibble the clover.

-”I'm still wondering what happened with Prince Rainbow,” he said, “why he brought us to his warren for the challenges. I don't understand Fiver and Vilthuril's explanation at all.”

-”I had trouble with it at first,” said Fiver. “It's a good thing Vilthuril is very patient, or I never would have understood it either.”

-”You're too hard on yourself, Fiver,” said Vilthuril. “But once you understand it, Hazel, you will see just how amazing it is.”

-”It's something about how humans know about our identities, but think we don't exist. I'm having some trouble with it too,” confessed Thethuthinnang.

-”Hyzenthlay, you said you would explain it all to me once we were back home,” reminded Hazel. “Could you please do it now?”

-”I'll do my best to explain it. What's really amazing is that so far, none of the humans actually managed to figure out the truth. Nobody figured out we are real, they all think we don't really exist, like Thethuthinnang said. That's because...”

-”Look out!” shouted Fiver as he bolted away from the rest of the group. Before anyone else could react, they found themselves tackled by Clover's four kittens, who started tickling their ears.

-”I forgot how rough kittens can be,” moaned Hazel. “It's been so long since our litter grew up.”

-”We should have another one at some point,” said Hyzenthlay.

Fiver looked at his friends as they were being tickled. After a few moments, he hopped over to Vilthuril and pushed the kitten off her back. After nuzzling her, he took the kitten in his mouth and hopped away.

-”Hey! What about the rest of us?” shouted Thethuthinnang.

-”Don't worry, I'll come back with help,” said Fiver, dropping the kitten in the process. She ran away and entered the warren through a nearby tunnel.

Further away, two other rabbits were looking at the scene.

-”Looks like we'll have to chase your kittens again,” one of them said.

-”You're right about that, Blackberry,” replied the other one. “But chasing kittens all day is so much better than being kept prisoner by Prince Rainbow. Or in a hutch.”

-”That's true. But honestly, Clover...I'm just glad you're alive. Most hutch rabbits who end up in the wilderness don't live very long. It's great you haven't fallen victim to elil over the past set of seasons.”

-”Prince Rainbow really is evil, isn't he? Leading me far from Watership Down where elil could kill me more easily...”

It was at that moment that Fiver arrived, followed by Vilthuril.

-”So...you see what they're up against,” he said, pointing towards the spot where Hyzenthlay, Thethuthinnang and Hazel were still being tickled. “Help?”

-”We're coming,” said Blackberry as he ran towards the group, with Clover, Vilthuril and Fiver following closely. Life at Watership Down had some challenges, but it also brought freedom, equality and, most of all, happiness, for all rabbits living there. Things none of them would ever want to give up.

* * *

-”No, you don't understand! I don't need any specialists! I just need that embleer runt Silverweed to give me my body back! Before that stupid human trapped inside it kills it.”

Woundwort was struggling violently, but he was unable to escape from the straitjacket.

-”A clear case of grandiose persecutory delusion, I'm afraid,” the manager of the asylum said, as she adjusted her glasses. “Convinced he's a fictional character, a dangerous rabbit villain, currently oppressed by us humans. I suggest that you get a VHS or a DVD of that movie he thinks he is a character of, and play it over and over again until he snaps out of it. If by morning, he's not back to normal, I'll see him again.”

-”Silflay hraka, embleer marli! May the curse of the Black Rabbit of Inlé be upon you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!FINISHED!!
> 
> I wish to thank Acacia Heartstrings, Bright Side, florapaw, Fox Teen, Leo-rah, Sharks Potter and Vesper for their reviews.
> 
> I wish to thank all those who provided inspiration (sorted alphabetically): Acacia Heartstrings, Tyrethali Ansrath, Christopher Auk, Dave Borgman, Bright Side, David “Loganberry” Buttery, Darkling Nocturnal, Susan E. Davis, Margo DeMello, Entai-rah, florapaw, Russell Flowers, Fox Teen, Marinell Harriman, Josh Lee, kamikazitwinkie, Marco, Minty-Thee-Cat, Tom Patten, RogueFanKC, Sharks Potter, Strifer, Tyler Sontag, Christian Ståhl, Sam Taylor, Bill Welch, my brothers, and my sister.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and please review!


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